The invention relates to the field of robotics, and in particular to a gripper module that is intended to be fitted to one end of a robotic arm or other support means.
Mechanical gripper modules for robotic arms in general have suffered one or more of the disadvantages of being bulky, complicated to operate, and not easily adaptable for use in a variety of tasks. A typical gripper module is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,752,094, entitled Robot Gripper Or Hand Device and granted to G. Tabeau on Jun. 21, 1988. In that module, each of two fingers is mounted on a respective rotatable shaft in a housing. The two shafts are spaced from each other and are adapted to be rotated together in counter directions so as to move the ends of the fingers toward each other to grasp an article. Each shaft has a connected pinion with teeth which mesh with teeth on a rack of an associated piston. The pistons are pneumatically actuated, being connected in parallel to an air supply so as to move simultaneously. One drawback with the gripper module of Tabeau is that it utilizes only two fingers rotating in a single plane; it does not teach how a third or further finger might be added to better grasp an article. Another drawback compared to the module of the subject invention, to be subsequently described, is the use of a separate actuating piston for each finger, resulting in a requirement for a correspondingly larger housing.